Air supply unit for boilers



Oct. 25, 1966 B. F. KWIAT 3,280,770

AIR SUPPLY UNIT FOR BOILERS Filed Oct. 1, 1964 INVENTOR. 5. F. K W/ATlclmr st A 7'7'ORNEY5 United States Patent 3,280,770 AIR SUPPLY UNlT FORBOILERS Benjamin F. Kwiat, 54 N. Pleasant Ave., Ridgewood, NJ. FiledOct. 1, 1964, Ser. No. 400,654 1 Claim. (Cl. 11056) This inventionrelates to an air supply unit for boilers and refers more particularlyto a device capable of being installed in existing oil, coal and gasboilers for the purpose of heating air which is supplied to thecombustion chambers of the boilers.

An object of the present invention is the provision of an air heatingdevice which will save a substantial amount of fuel consumed by aboiler, which will increase combustion in and efficiency of a boiler andwhich will balance the temperature, the turbulence and the operationaltime of a boiler.

Another object is the provision of anair heating device which willprovide for a more complete combustion of fuel and gases in a boiler andwhich will reduce smoke, soot and carbon deposits, as well as the costsof boiler cleaning and maintenance.

A further object is the provision of an air heating device which can bereadily installed on all existing boilers, which requires no maintenanceor power to operate and which, at low cost, will provide high combustionefficiency and optimum boiler performance.

Other objects will become apparent in the course of the followingspecification.

In the accomplishment of the objects of the present invention it wasfound desirable to provide a tubular unit which is fastened to a boilerbelow the fuel combustion area while all boiler air intakes are closedolf, so that air entering the combustion chamber must pass through theunit. The unit itself is composed of an air inlet portion, a pluralityof sleeves provided with inner deflectors and outer bushings, andscreens. Air flows into the inlet portion and is slightly compressedtherein, it passes through a reduced opening and then is directedalternately downwardly and upwardly by the deflectors while beingheated. The amount of air leaving the unit can be regulated by adjustingthe effective size of the screen openings. Air flowing through the unitis compressed as well as heated, whereby compression further increasesair temperature. Thus air mixing with the fuel is quite hot so that mosteffective combustion is produced.

The invention will appear more clearly from the following detaileddescription when taken in connection with the accompanying drawingshowing by way of example, a preferred embodiment of the inventive idea.

In the drawing:

FIGURE 1 is a diagrammatic view of an oil burner illustrating thelocation of the air supply unit of the present invention.

FIGURE 2 is a perspective disassembled View of the parts of the airsupply unit on a larger scale.

FIGURE 3 is a section through the assembled air supply unit.

The oil burner shown in FIG. 1 is of the standard type and includes afoundation 11, a main body 12 and a combustion region 13. The air supplyunit 14 constituting the subject of the present invention has the shapeof an elongated body extending below the entire combustion region 13.The unit 14- is attached to the Wall of the oil burner. All other directair inlets to the combustion region 13 are sealed ofl, so that outsideair reaches the combustion region essentially only through the unit 14.The outlet of the unit 14 is located directly in the combustion region.

3,280,770 Patented Oct. 25, 1966 -If conditions require it, a pluralityof units 14 may be installed in a single boiler.

As already stated, the unit 14 can be conveniently installed in allexisting boilers, including gas and coal burners.

In the example illustrated, the unit 14 includes an inlet 16 and twointer-connected sleeves 17 and 1 8. Obviously, the number of sleeves maybe varied depending upon the size of the boiler. The inlet and thesleeves are made of high quality cast steel; their size may varydepending upon the size of the boiler.

The inlet member 16 has a frusto-conical converging body 19 having atits outer end a flange 20 provided with several slits 21 adapted toreceive screws 22 by mean-s of which the unit 14 is attached to theboiler. A partition 23 provided with an aperture 24 is located adjacentthe inner end of the inlet member 1 6 and is integral therewith. Thebody 19 and the partition 23 constitute passage reducers. On the otherside of the partition 23 there is a cylindrical flange 25 which servesto connect the inlet member 16 with a reduced end portion 26 of thesleeve 17. Dowel pins 27 extend through aligned openings provided in theparts 25 and 26 and constitute the actual connection.

The sleeve 17 has two angular deflector blades 28 and 29 located atopposite ends of the sleeve and extending substantially parallel to eachother but in opposite directions. The blades 28 and 29 may be castintegral with the sleeve 17 and are located upon opposite inner surfacesof the sleeve; they form an angle of approximately 45 degrees with thelongitudinal axis of the sleeve. The blades are fairly thin and theyterminate in straight edges extending across the entire interior of thesleeve a short distance beyond the longitudinal axis of the sleeve sothat a blade occupies more than one-half of the cross sectional area ofthe sleeve. The blade 28 located adjacent the aperture 24 extendsinwardly so as to facilitate the flow of air passing through theaperture 24 while at the same time deflecting this flow. The blade 29extends in the opposite direction and serves as a temporary barriercreating a turbulence in the air flow.

The sleeve 17 carries a bushing 30. When the unit 14 is attached to theboiler, the sleeve bushings will be located on top. They are constructedso as to permit the escape of a certain amount of air .therethroughwhile the major part of the air will continue its flow through the unit.The top of the bushing 30 has the shape of a cap provided with slantingsurfaces 31 the purpose of which is to protect the unit from anypossible fuel drippings.

The end of the sleeve 17 which is opposed to the inlet 16 consists of aflange 32 which receives the reduced end portion 33 of the sleeve 18.This end portion is similar in shape to the end portion 26 of the sleeve17. The parts 32 and 33 are connected by dowel pins 27 in the samemanner in which the sleeve 17 is connected to the inlet 16.

The sleeve 18 has two deflector blades 34 and 35 and a bushing 36. Theseparts of the sleeve 18 are the same as the deflector blades 28 and 29and the bushing 30 of the sleeve 17.

The outer end of the sleeve 18 is recessed to serve as a seat for twoscreens 37 and 38 which are enclosed by an end flange 39 of the sleeve18. As best shown in FIG. 2, each screen has the shape of a discprovided with a small central opening and a large number of parallelslits 40. The two screens 37 and 38 are located one next to the other.The inner screen 37 fits firmly within the sleeve 18, while the outerscreen 38 may be turned relatively to the screen 37, thereby varying theeffective size of the passages through which air escapes out of the unit14. Self tappe-r screws 41 fitting into openings provided in the flange39 of the sleeve 18, engage the screen 38 and maintain it in any desiredposition relatively to the screen 37.

3 The relative adjustment of the screens 37 and 38 depends upon theoperational requirements of the boiler.

A damper 4-2 may be used in connection with the inlet member 16 tocontrol the amount of air initially flowing into the unit 14. This isadvisable in order to maintain heat within the combustion chamber and todiminish the flow-of cold air during start-ups.

In operation, air flows through the unit 14 while receiving heat fromthe combustion area. Air entering the inlet member 16 is somewhatcompressed in the conical body :19 while the velocity of flow isincreased. Air is metered by the aperture 24 in the partition v23; thenit strikes the blade 28 of the sleeve 17 which directs it "downwardly.Thereupon the air current will strike the blade 29 with the result thateddies will be formed. Some air will escape through the bushing 30,while the major portion will flow into the sleeve 18 Where it will bedeflected again by the blades 34 and 3-5. Finally air will reach thescreens 37 and 38 and will pass into the combustionchamber through slitsprovided in the two screens. As already stated, the velocity of theoutflowing air may be controlled by adjusting the relative positions ofthe two screens.

It is apparent that air passing through the unit 14 Will be subjected tocompression, so that its temperature will be increased. Hot air reachingthe combustion chamber and mixing with the fuel will provide a moreetfec-tive combustion while reducing fuel consumption. Practicalexperimentation has shown that boilers provided in the unit 14 of thepresent invention save from to of the industrial and commercial heatingcosts.

area for receiving outside air, heating it and supplying it to saidcombustion area, said combustion area being devoid of other air intakes,said unit comprising, in combination, an inlet member having afirusto-conical shape, a flange enclosing the larger end of saidfrus-to-conic-al member for attaching the unit to the boiler, saidlarger end communicating with outside air, a partition located Withinsaid frusto-conical member adjacent the smaller end thereof, saidpartition having an opening, at least one sleeve, means connecting oneend'of said sleeve with said smaller end of the frusto-conical member,adeflector blade located upon an inner surface of said sleeve adjacentsaid one end thereof and inclined in the direction toward the interiorof the sleeve, another deflector blade located upon an inner surface ofsaid sleeve which is opposite the firstmentione-d inner surface, thesecond-mentioned deflector blade being located adjacent the other end ofthe sleeve and being inclined in the direction toward the interior ofthe sleeve, each of said deflector blades extending at an angle ofsubstantially degrees to the longitudinal axis of the sleeve andcovering more than one-half of cross-sectional area of the sleeve, afixed screen mounted within said sleeve adjacent said other end thereof,a rotatable screen mounted within said sleeve adjacent thefirst-mentioned screen, each of said screens having longitudinal slits,and means carried by said sleeve and adapted to engage'thesecond-mentioned screen to maintain it in a predetermined positionrelatively to the first-mentioned screen.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,568,302 1/1926' Toifteen 75 1,578,151 3/1926 Marsh 110-l75 1,631,859 6/1927'Good-ridge 15836 2,212,311 8/1940 Alfisi 110-75 2,520,994 9/1950 Biegal11075 X 2,549,219 4/1951 McKeague 11075 X KENNETH W. SPRA GUE, PrimaryExaminer.

